Never were girls so beautiful, food so delicious

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Release from the Japanese was overwhelming for the Allied prisoners. There was food, kindness, girls, parties and, later, emotional reunions

THERE WERE about 123,000 prisoners and internees in the Far East after Japan surrendered in August 1945 who had to be recovered, restored to health and returned home. Men were still dying at a rate of 15 a day. After three and a half years of captivity and a death rate of one in four, the men were emaciated and many were suffering from one of the tropical diseases that had taken so many lives. The main impression of the men’s rescuers was of how much they stank.